Thursday, February 23, 2012

Martian Civil War

My flyer was pulled out of the box for only the second time. It was fun to run, and was a constant pain to the bad guys.

After our last gathering, plans were made to hold a game just battling Martians against Martians. The basis for any included units had to be that the units would have to be Martian troops armed with Martian weapons. So Mark and I gave folks plenty of time to paint up troops which was only extended by the arrival of Snowpocalypse in January. We finally managed to get twelve players together last weekend.

A short look from the far end (left flank) of the table. Gary Griess' troops advance; but not far.

Hill Martians in the foreground backed by lancers and legions contest our troops in the center.

In a five minute meeting while we laid out troops, Mark and I agreed on victory conditions. Each player was allowed four points. A basic infantry unit, such as legion, hill tribes, or city militia was one point. Mounted troops on gashants or artillery pieces were two points. We agreed the game would end when one side or the other exited three units with good morale on the enemy's side of the board.

Though my heavy gun was not a consistent death dealer, it did intervene at critical moments of the game.

I snuck my light flyer in as a two pointer and also took a heavy gun. My goal was to help out a bit with the game, and run things that were fun and easy. I chose well.

Gary's troops hold the left flank

Of course, when you play a game such as this, any sense of strategy or tactics go straight out the window. Everything is a local struggle with lots of dead troops. I believe my cry to start the game was "If you're not dead by the end of turn three, you're not playing this right."

Near the end of the game, Chris Bauermeister's two legions suffered terrific casualties, but held on well enough to get one of them off the table.

In the end that's pretty much how things turned out. I used my flyer to support troops on our right. Lawrence Bateman's hill Martians bolted after rolling ones two turns in a row (on a 20-sided die.) That left a hole to be filled. Dale tried to do so with his gashant lancers, but it wasn't enough. Chris B. managed to get one legion off the table, but that was the only unit that would make it off.

The rest of the table was a mass of charging and counter charging. I placed my heavy gun so it could command the most ground. In one turn, I fired into a melee that found our legion clearly at a disadvantage, and managed to kill the commander of a gashant mounted unit, and wounded member of an enemy Martian legion, without causing any casualties to our own unit. The flyer, mostly administered pin pricks, being only armed with a light gun, but in one turn it also killed a legion leader, so it was worth having.

While pretty meaningless in the great scheme of things, this was one of the most fun Martian battles of all time.

Just to be clear, this is a community effort. Initially, it was just Mark and I painting up our collections of Bob Murch figures, but since then, many of our Red Captains have added to the mix. Quite a family affair now.

The rules we use we simply call the Sword and the Flame on Mars and is an adaptation of that venerable game to our purposes.

About Me

I'm a high school history and journalism teacher, a career I've loved and continued to enjoy. Aside from my family I have several passions-miniature wargaming, movies, books and music. I'm also a died in the wool Mariners fan and baseball lover.